Opera Chorister Raises Money For Hometown Through Music

David Lowe gives back to the community.
(Photo: Roger Nomer/Globe)

"As a surprise gift for his mother on Mother’s Day, David Lowe put eight of her favorite songs on a compact disc. Lowe didn’t just put the songs on the disc. He sang them and arranged them. For the past 13 years, Lowe, a native of Joplin and graduate of The Juilliard School in New York, has been a singer in the chorus of the Metropolitan Opera. 'There were some country and western songs,” he said. 'I did a cover of ‘Route 66’ with four-part harmony, and Willie Nelson’s ‘Always on My Mind.’ These are songs she (Ardy Lowe) would like.' Then the May 22 tornado happened. Then it became: What can I do to try to help? Lowe spent most of the summer in Joplin, helping his mother after the storm. That’s when he penned the original song, 'My Hometown,'’ and added it to the compact disc. He is selling copies of the CD to raise money for the Bright Futures program at Joplin High School. 'It’s especially for the Joplin High School music and theater department,' he said. 'That’s where I got my start. I want to give back to them.' On Tuesday, he spoke to students in the school’s drama class. 'I talked to them about what it is like to come from Joplin and move to the big city,' he said. 'I participated in high school musicals and assemblies — it was Parkwood High School then.' He graduated in 1976. From there he went to Pittsburg (Kan.) State University and then to Juilliard, and has lived in New York ever since. The CD, titled Back to My Roots: A Tribute to Joplin, Mo., is available for $15, which includes shipping and handling. The CD can be purchased at Lowe’s website, davidlowe-singer.com. The song “My Hometown’’ can be downloaded for $1. 'Every little bit helps and even if this raises a small amount, I hope it will help my hometown in some way,' Lowe said. So far, Lowe has sold 150 compact discs and generated $1,000 for the Bright Futures program." [Source]

Watch a performance by David Lowe after the jump.

Joyce DiDonato Speaks Out About Arts Being Slashed in Kansas

World opera star and Kansas native.

"With one, autonomous slash of the pen, every state penny for the arts in my home of Kansas has vanished, simultaneously obliterating all matching federal funds. This is the Sunflower State that I have proudly boasted about across the world, fearlessly defending it even in the face of harsh quizzical looks from the most skeptical of folks (“You live where?”). It’s the state of my first piano recital and choir concert. The home field of my artistic curiosity and education. The homeland that taught me to freely dream big and without limitation; one where the arts were once alive, vibrant and supported. I’ve welcomed the assumption of being an unsolicited but mightily proud artistic ambassador for Kansas to the great cities of the world. Now, for the first time, I feel shame. Eliminating a state arts commission is an ignorant, short-sighted, fearful and unspeakably damaging act to the spirit and soul of this great state. I’m not a politician or historian. I’m a humble opera singer, a home-grown product of an agricultural state that used to value the arts, like all great societies and cultures of the past. But my anger rivals a good ol’ western Kansas Category 5 tornado’s destructive force when I begin to think of where I’d be without an education fueled by the arts that informed my way of thinking. Or without a community theater, choir or art exhibit that gave me true solace and an emergency exit from some of the great crises in my life. Or without that musical outlet that helped me understand myself and the mystery of life a little better."

Read the full article at the Kansas City Star.